With a wink and a nod I'm going to assume that Canuckle_Head knew that a Graflex flash a la SW wouldn't be correct (they came out later, around 1940) and he is asking what BRAND flash would have been around in 1937, which is perfectly acceptable.

Jacobson, Abbey, Mendelson, and Heiland were around although I believe the it was SOL Heiland at the time. Mendelson will be the most reliable, tied with Heiland. Abbey flashes have a nice look. Jacobson flashes were nothing more than modified Everready flash lights are the hardest to find and harder still to find in good condition.

I think you'll find a copy of Morgan and Lester's "Synchroflash Photography" (1939) to be most enlightening (hey I coulda said "Illuminating" but I thought that was pushing it)

I've often wondered, I've seen lots of repro Graflex flash units on ebay, and I've often wondered how well they would work as a real flash unit? Obviously some are junk, but a few I've seen look really good, and supposedly are 100% repros and they say they could work as a flash, but I wonder about that. Has anyone here ever actually used a new repro flash as a flash?

Hi Mike,
A couple of months ago I posed this same question to Bill Cress, who I had called about a different matter. He has actually had a few of the repros on THAT auction site so I thought he would be ideal to ask since he would certainly be familiar enough with them to be able to speak with authority on their alleged functionality as working flashes.

Bill told me that out of a batch of 100 or so, about maybe 60% actually fired a bulb when the red button was pressed. He hadn't tried to fire a bulb from a shutter using the round plugs, nor had he tried tripping a solenoid with one. He hadn't ever really had an inclination to try either, for lack of the correct cords, and also for lack of anticipated consumer demand to actually use it as a working flash.

So this is kinda non-answer answer. You might get lucky with one that will do all that it's supposed to. Bill said as advertised they were designed & manufactured in China to exacting specs drawn from an actual flash provided by some prop maker. So it might be hit or miss getting one to do all it should do.

On 2005-06-16 13:35, Les wrote:
With a wink and a nod I'm going to assume that Canuckle_Head knew that a Graflex flash a la SW wouldn't be correct (they came out later, around 1940) and he is asking what BRAND flash would have been around in 1937, which is perfectly acceptable.
Jacobson, Abbey, Mendelson, and Heiland were around although I believe the it was SOL Heiland at the time.

I like the Heiland/Sol units myself, and have one on my pre-war Anny Speed 4x5.Works great.
I don't have an Abbey unit for the press cameras, but I do have a nifty Abbey for the Contax 35mm, with the synchro built into the release button.
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